Forgery

Forgery is punishable under Article 225 of the Dutch Penal Code and basically consists of two punishable offenses. Paragraph 1 criminalizes the falsification or false preparation of a writing for evidentiary purposes if done with the intent to use the writing as genuine. Paragraph 2 criminalizes the intentional use of such a writing.

Forgery or falsification occurs when the content of a document is altered by changing something, removing something, or adding something precisely. The forgery can involve both physical and digital documents. The ultimate purpose of the writing must be to prove something. Consider:

• false invoices;

• fake passports;

• false diplomas; or

• a forged VOG.

Returning to the doctor who carelessly maintains patient records: whether the doctor is punishable will depend on the circumstances of the case. If the doctor deliberately modifies the record to avoid liability, then he or she is soon guilty of forgery. With sincere carelessness, this is not likely to be the case. Then intent is lacking.

Under circumstances, a legal entity can also be held criminally responsible for forgery. In a Supreme Court ruling from 2018, for example, a company was convicted of forgery for billing dab as a school. A criminal conduct can be imputed to a legal entity if it can be "reasonably imputed to it. When that is the case, case law further develops.

You can read more about the criminal liability of legal entities at this link .

If a legal entity is criminally liable, then the principals or those in fact in charge can also be criminally prosecuted and convicted. Usually these are members of the board, but they can also be people from lower management. In case about the fish fraud, for example, the director-major shareholder was also held criminally responsible for the tampering with the invoices (ECLI:NL:HR:2018:1677).

These forms of liability are of course distinct from the criminal liability of the natural person himself actually forging or forging a document. That person may be considered a perpetrator